Our Week in the Forest...

February half term week has brought some familiar faces from previous holiday camps back to our forest and it has been lovely to see how these children have grown and changed since they were last with us.

Adding a new dynamic to our team this week we have seen how mixed aged learning can really benefit for all involved. The younger children have looked up to and learnt new things from the older children whilst the older children have observed and shown great empathy, kindness and patience towards the younger ones. An example of this was during our den making activity which ran and developed over a few days. Our regular children set about building the den, finding and balancing the long logs against the main branch in the middle of the tree. Assigning themselves different roles; plumber, carpenter, builder - and even gardener - they were quite the little workforce! Once joined by some older campers who observed that the logs wouldn’t provide shelter from rain and wind we set about discussing and finding something that could provide greater shelter from the elements. The older holiday campers found tarps and blankets and showed the younger children how they could hang these over the top of their den to make it cosy, warm and dry.

This week we’ve also seen some really creative climbing and physical development opportunities which have challenged the children to move their bodies in unusual and new ways. A swing made from a 10ft long branch, a double swing where you can stand and hold onto a log at the same time, spider web ladders all the way to the top of a heavy, strong branch - really creative set-up and play! The fact these physical development opportunities change and evolve each day means there’s always a new challenge for our Little Forest Folk and children of all ages can choose their own stage of play and development. It’s wonderful to see our youngest 2 years olds stand back and watch the older children before, maybe a few days (or sometimes weeks!) later, they have a go themselves. Step by step we watch them learn and grow, in their own space and time.

Have a lovely weekend all and we look forward to more adventures and less chilly days in the forest next week!